Fogerty to turn Pavilion into tent Revival
Legendary guitarist, songwriter, and former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty brings his summer tour to the Charlottesville Pavilion Sunday, August 24. Tickets, which go on sale this Friday, June 27, at 10am, range from $37 to $69.
When he was growing up in California, it would have been natural for Fogerty's musical inclinations to skew toward the Pacific, given the popularity of west coast contemporaries like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. However, he and his brother Tom– more at home waist-deep in the music of the Mississippi delta and R & B– formed Creedence Clearwater Revival. The group had to take a hiatus when Fogerty served in the military until being discharged in 1968.
That same year, CCR released their self-titled debut album, spawning their first top 40 hit, "Suzie Q," the first of several mega singles for the swamp-rock quartet that included "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," "Down on the Corner," "Fortunate Son," "Travelin' Band," "Who'll Stop the Rain?" "Up Around the Bend," "Looking out My Back Door," "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," and "Proud Mary," which charted twice, once as a CCR hit and again a year later as a smash for Ike & Tina Turner.
Fraternal acrimony eventually drove CCR apart, and Fogerty kept a low profile through most of the '70s. He re-emerged in a big way in 1985 with the chart-topping solo album Centerfield. However, Fogerty was not the only one seeking to cash in on his solo success. Fantasy Records, which owned the publishing rights to the entire CCR catalogue, sued Fogerty for copyright infringement because the company claimed his #1 single "The Old Man Down the Road" sounded too much like the CCR song "Run Through the Jungle"– in essence, suing Fogerty for sounding too much like himself. After Fogerty played the two songs in a California court, a judge dismissed the suit, but Fogerty had to appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to recoup his attorney's fees from Fantasy Records in 1993.
The dispute did have a happy resolution, however. In 2004, famed TV producer Norman Lear (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons) bought Fantasy Records and returned the rights to his CCR songs to Fogerty. Last year, Fogerty put out his first album on the Fantasy label in more than 30 years, Revival, his highest-charting LP since Centerfield.
Tickets will be available through the Pavilion website, or by calling 1-877-CPAV-TIX.
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4 comments
More on the copyright issue. When Fogerty was sued, he stopped playing ANYTHING from the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog. That all changed at the Vietnam Veterans concert at Calptal Center outside of D.C. on July 4, 1987. He came out, started playing "The Old Man Down the Road," and after the intro the band stopped, and Fogerty made a statement directed at the Vets about getting over bad times, leaving the past behind, and going on with your life. He then launched into "Born on the Bayouu" and the rest of the show was 100% CCR. I lived in D.C. at the time and listened to the live broadcast. It was one of those seminal moments when you suddenly realize that something significant just happened.
He's played Creedence songs ever since.
Too expensive, alas.
This is one not to miss.
Blue Moon Swamp is still my favorite. Have seen a few Fogerty concerts. His energy is incredible and the sound is always great. The last show I saw, he even brought his sons out for a jam. This is one of our country's most important musicians. What a guy.